A record two million Brits now have Long Covid as experts warn catching the virus carries a one in ten risk of developing it.
The Office for National Statistics found 3.1% of the British population are suffering symptoms persisting for at least four weeks after catching Covid-19.
Worryingly 376,000 people who first caught Covid-19 around the start of the pandemic have reported symptoms lasting at least two years.
The data as of May 1 shows 826,000 people had been experiencing symptoms for at least a year.
The most common symptoms include fatigue, shortness of breath, cough and muscle ache.
One in five (20%) of those who have long Covid reported that their ability to undertake their day-to-day activities had been “limited a lot” by ongoing symptoms.
The ONS said that the rates of long Covid were highest among women and those aged 35 to 69 years.
Dr Janet Scott, clinical lecturer at the MRC University of Glasgow’s Centre for Virus Research, said: “There’s at least a 10% chance, if you catch Covid, of getting long Covid.
“Women under 50 are consistently coming up as at higher risk.”
Latest ONS random testing data published today shows one in 70 people in England currently have Covid, one in 75 in Wales and one in 50 in Scotland.
Prof Amitava Banerjee and his team at University College London are launching a clinical trial to examine whether common medicines could help tackle Long Covid.
Prof Banerjee said: “The only way to prevent it is to prevent getting infected.
“This latest analysis shows that although vaccinated people are much less likely to get long Covid than those without vaccination, they still can get infected and they still can get long Covid.
“So this idea that there’s nothing to worry about with high levels of Covid in the population, I think, is misguided. I think we should be doing more to educate people.”
The estimated two million people now suffering with Long Covid is almost double the 1.1 million the ONS reported in March 2021.
Around 1.4 million now have had lingering symptoms at least three months after their initial infection.
Long Covid rates were also highest in people living in more deprived areas, those working in social care, teaching and education or health care, and those with other health conditions or disabilities.
Layla Moran MP, chairwoman of the all-party parliamentary group on coronavirus, said: “For nearly two years we have been warning the UK Government about the scale and dangers of the long Covid crisis and their failure to properly address it will continue to devastate lives, damage our economy and cripple public services by decreasing productivity and increasing labour shortages.
“After reaching this grim milestone, the Government cannot bury their heads in the sand any longer.
“They must urgently classify long Covid as an occupational illness, provide formal guidance to employers and increase funding for research into treatments.”
The ONS figures are based on self-reported long Covid from a representative sample of people in private households.
